Friendly Competition
by skywalkersamidala
Summary: Playing Quidditch is awfully difficult when you're in love with the rival Seeker. Snapshots of Anakin and Padmé's 7 years at Hogwarts.


**Yet another thing for Anidala Week 2018 on Tumblr (prompt: set in an alternate fandom). Harry Potter was my major fandom from like age 5 until high school and I am honestly astonished I've never written an Anidala Hogwarts AU until now. Shoutout to the Hogwarts Mystery mobile game for getting me back into HP for the first time in several years :')**

 **I decided to just re-use the actual Hogwarts professors because I was too lazy to assign Star Wars characters for all the different positions and also because you can't have Hogwarts without Minerva McGonagall am I right? I know sorting characters into Hogwarts Houses is a hotly debated issue, so please don't yell at me for my choices lmfao also I realized there aren't any Slytherin characters in this fic, but I like a good Slytherin as much as the next person so don't worry it wasn't intentional. (I was considering Slytherin for Obi-Wan but ultimately went with Ravenclaw bc while he is cunning, he doesn't seem all that ambitious to me idk. But I digress)**

* * *

It all started the first week of first year. Thus far Anakin had spent the week in a constant state of half-awe and half-anxiety as he navigated Hogwarts and indeed the Wizarding World itself, which he'd had no idea existed until that day over the summer when Professor McGonagall had come to explain to a bewildered Anakin and Shmi that magic was real and Anakin had it and ought to go to a fancy wizard school called Hogwarts.

So now here he was, sincerely wishing he had a map as he made his way to his first ever Herbology class. Overall Anakin had found his classes quite wonderful, and much more interesting than the classes he'd been taking at his old school (his "Muggle" school, they would say). Aside from the little voice in the back of his head telling him that surely McGonagall had made a mistake and he wasn't a wizard at all and would soon flunk out of all his classes and be kicked out, it wasn't academic matters that worried him, but rather social ones.

Although he knew, logically, that all the other first-years were just as new to Hogwarts as him, Anakin couldn't shake the worry that they all knew each other already and he was an outsider. He hadn't met any other Muggle-born students yet and wasn't sure how common they were, nor had he talked to anybody long enough for his own Muggle-born status to come up. What if they all thought he was a freak? McGonagall had told him and Shmi that Muggle-born wizards _were_ very common, but what if she'd been lying to reassure them?

Anakin ended up getting turned around several times, and even though he'd left his dormitory very early he was still a few minutes late to Herbology. Professor Sprout gave him a stern look. "It's kind of you to join us, Mr…?"

"Skywalker," Anakin mumbled, face flaming. "I'm so sorry, Professor, I got lost."

Either because first-years getting lost in the giant castle was common or because Anakin looked like he was about to burst into tears, Sprout's face softened. "Hogwarts can be a confusing place," she acknowledged. "Even I sometimes discover hidden passages or rooms that I've never seen before. I would recommend spending this weekend walking around and really getting to know the castle. All of you, not just Mr. Skywalker."

Anakin nodded vigorously and hurried over to a free spot at one of the tables in the greenhouse. He glanced around at the other students, afraid he'd see looks of scorn on their faces. But while a few gave him curious looks, the others had already turned their attention back to Sprout's lecture. And when he made eye contact with the girl across from him, she actually gave him a sympathetic smile, as if to say that she too had had her fair share of getting lost this week. Anakin blushed a little and shyly smiled back before pulling out his notes and quickly scribbling down every word out of Sprout's mouth. He was afraid of missing something important and had decided it would be safest to write down every single thing his professors said.

The lecture took up the first half of class, and then they turned to the gardening tools, flower pots, and seeds in front of them. "For today, we will be using non-magical seeds to learn about the basics of growing and caring for plants," Sprout told them. "We'll save the dangerous plants until you're more advanced." At first Anakin thought she must be joking about that, but to his consternation she looked entirely serious.

The students broke out in conversation with each other as they got to work, but all the people around Anakin were talking to someone on their other side and not to him, so he set about quietly planting his seeds, his brow furrowed in concentration. With a stab of homesickness he thought that Shmi would like Herbology; she had a green thumb and their garden at home was beautiful.

"What's your name?"

Anakin's thoughts were interrupted by a voice, and he looked up to realize that the friendly girl across from him was looking at him expectantly. "Anakin," he said.

She smiled again. "Nice to meet you, Anakin," she said, sticking her hand out for him to shake. "I'm Padmé. Padmé Naberrie."

He tentatively took it. "Nice to meet you too."

"So, you're in Hufflepuff?" Padmé nodded at his robes, which had a yellow and black Hufflepuff badge attached to them.

"Yes. And you're in Gryffindor?" he said, noticing her Gryffindor badge and the red and gold tie she was wearing.

"Uh-huh. I was really expecting Ravenclaw, I've always loved learning and my sister is in Ravenclaw, you know, but I was so pleased when the Hat put me in Gryffindor," she chattered. "Surprised, but pleased. We haven't had a Gryffindor in our family for a long time, Mum says, she and Dad were Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff respectively. What about you, are your family Hufflepuffs too?"

Anakin swallowed nervously. "Actually, I'm Muggle-born," he said, the word still feeling strange on his tongue. He couldn't shake the feeling that _Muggle_ just sounded like an ugly word.

To his relief, Padmé smiled kindly. "Oh, really? That's great," she said. "You must've been awfully surprised when you got your Hogwarts letter."

"Yeah. It still feels like I must be dreaming," Anakin confessed, feeling pleased when that made her laugh.

"Well, you can always come to me if you have questions about the Wizarding World," she said cheerfully. "My family's all wizards, so I've grown up knowing this stuff all my life."

Anakin smiled too. "Thank you."

"Are you glad to be in Hufflepuff?" Padmé asked next.

He shrugged. "I suppose. Our common room is nice," he said, thinking of the cozy room near the kitchens that reminded him of home. "But I don't know enough about any of the houses to know if I should be glad I'm in Hufflepuff."

"I think you should be, Hufflepuff is wonderful," she assured him. "Loyalty and a willingness to work hard are some of the most valuable traits a person can have, if you ask me."

Anakin didn't know if he was loyal or hard-working. He remembered listening to the Sorting Hat sing about the traits of all the different houses and thinking that he didn't feel particularly loyal or brave or ambitious or intelligent, just scared. "What's Gryffindor, again?" he asked. "Bravery?"

"Yes, but I don't know if I'm especially brave," Padmé said with a chuckle. "I suppose we'll see soon enough. The Hat has its reasons." Anakin was glad he wasn't the only one feeling that way.

The rest of class flew by, and Anakin and Padmé spent the whole time talking. She was mesmerizing. She never ran out of things to say the way Anakin often did, and her laugh was infectious. And she was very pretty, Anakin thought, feeling himself blushing a little. He wasn't sure he'd ever found a girl pretty before, but Padmé with her long hair and warm brown eyes and dazzling smile…something about her made butterflies swirl in his stomach.

* * *

Within the first couple months of school, Anakin had befriended Gryffindor Ahsoka and Ravenclaw Obi-Wan, whereas Padmé spent most of her time with fellow Gryffindor Sabé and Hufflepuff Dormé. But even though the two of them didn't run in the same social circles, they were still friendly and would exchange smiles whenever they passed each other in the corridor.

But to Anakin's disappointment, as the years went on he began seeing less and less of her. Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors still had Herbology together, but Padmé would always work with Sabé and Dormé while he worked with Ahsoka. And when it came time to choose electives at the end of second year, Anakin chose Care of Magical Creatures and Divination while Padmé, he heard, chose Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, and Muggle Studies.

Not to mention that most of his free time was now taken up by Quidditch. Flying lessons had been one of Anakin's favorite parts about his first year, and at the beginning of his second he'd tried out for Seeker on the Hufflepuff team—and had made it, to everyone's astonishment. There was some muttering from the rest of Hufflepuff that they'd lose for sure with a twelve-year-old who'd never played Quidditch before as their Seeker, but those mutters were silenced after Anakin's stellar performance in his first match had given Hufflepuff the victory.

Hufflepuff made it to the finals for Anakin's second, third, and fourth years, and though they never managed to win the Quidditch Cup, it was still the best Hufflepuff had done in Quidditch in many years. Classes were getting harder and the wide-eyed wonder he'd had as a first year was wearing off, but when he was out on the Quidditch pitch, Anakin felt at home.

Which was why he was rather distressed when in fifth year, something happened to disturb the peace of mind playing Quidditch always brought him: Gryffindor's Seeker had graduated, and he was replaced by none other than Padmé. Anakin's crush had only gotten worse the older they'd gotten and the prettier she'd become and the more his teenage hormones had intensified, which meant that having to play Quidditch against her felt nothing short of disastrous.

"What if we win and she hates me for it?" he fretted to Ahsoka and Obi-Wan at breakfast the morning of the Hufflepuff-Gryffindor match. "Or what if we lose and she thinks I'm a—a _loser_ who can't play Quidditch?"

"She knows you're an excellent Quidditch player, she's watched you play for three years," Obi-Wan reminded him.

"And she and Obi-Wan are just about the only two Quidditch players I know who treat Quidditch as a side interest and not their reason for living, so she won't hate you if you win," Ahsoka said. Then she grinned. "I might, though." She was a Chaser for Gryffindor, while Obi-Wan was Ravenclaw's Keeper.

Anakin snorted. "You should go back to your own table, you've already spent too long fraternizing with the enemy," he said sarcastically, and Ahsoka cheerfully told him he was going down before heading back to the Gryffindor table to join her teammates.

As he had predicted, the match was torture for Anakin. He knew he should be focusing all his attention on looking for the Snitch, but he found himself watching Padmé for most of it. She just looked so beautiful and confident on her broom as she scanned the pitch for the Snitch. Anakin comforted himself with the thought that staring at Padmé and letting her find the Snitch for him could pass as a strategy and not lovesick pining.

The match was relatively quick. It was at the point where Hufflepuff was pulling ahead, but not by enough that they'd still win if Gryffindor caught the Snitch, when Padmé suddenly dove towards the ground. Anakin hastily followed suit, spotting the Snitch seconds after she did, and they both sped towards it at the same time.

Normally, this part of the game was the most thrilling for Anakin. The cold wind whipping his face, the crowd roaring in the background, the adrenaline pumping through him, all his attention focusing in on the tiny fluttering golden ball in front of him. But today, all he could do was stress about what would happen if he beat Padmé to the Snitch. Surely she'd resent him for it. But all of Hufflepuff would resent him if he didn't catch it and lost them the match.

Somehow, the thought of only Padmé resenting him was so much worse than that.

So even though his broom was faster than hers and he was closer, at the last second Anakin slowed down ever so slightly and allowed Padmé to come swooping in and snatch the Snitch out from under his nose.

He made a show of looking upset as he turned to fly towards the ground and dismounted his broom, reassuring himself that he'd just gone easy on her because it was her first match and that he wouldn't do the same thing next time. Besides, there was a Hogsmeade weekend coming up and he'd been thinking that he might finally manage to work up his courage and ask Padmé to go with him, and she'd be much more likely to say yes if she wasn't angry with him for beating her in Quidditch.

Except it turned out, she was angry with him for _not_ beating her. "You let me win!"

Anakin turned around and saw Padmé stomping towards him across the pitch, broom in one hand and Snitch in the other and a furious expression on her face. "What are you talking about?" he said feebly when she reached him.

"I mean, you practically had the Snitch in your hand before suddenly slowing down and letting me get it first!" she said, her face flushed from the cold, exercise, and anger. "What the hell would you do that for?"

"I didn't—"

"Is it because it's my first match and you thought I needed a confidence booster? Is it because I'm a _girl_ and you wanted to be a gentleman by letting me win? Or is it—"

"It's because I really like you and wanted to ask you to Hogsmeade next weekend!" Anakin blurted out before he could stop himself.

Padmé's tirade stumbled to a halt, and she stared at him open-mouthed. Anakin's face was on fire; why on _earth_ had he said that? "I have a boyfriend," Padmé said finally, though she was now speaking at a normal volume and no longer seemed as angry.

Anakin felt like he'd been punched in the gut. "Oh," he said, mortified. "I'm sorry, I didn't know. Just forget I said anything."

"It's fine, we only started dating recently." Padmé also looked embarrassed, but her face had softened and she was looking at him with something humiliatingly close to pity. "Just don't do anything like that again, all right?" she said. "I only want to win if I've earned it."

Anakin nodded. "I'm sorry," he mumbled again before turning around and hurrying over to face his annoyed teammates. Though fortunately, no one but Padmé seemed to realize that he'd purposely thrown the match in her favor, so at least he avoided _public_ humiliation from the whole school.

* * *

It turned out that Padmé was dating Rush Clovis, a pretentious Ravenclaw in their year whom Anakin had never much liked. He moped about it for the rest of fifth year, but when he got back to Hogwarts for his sixth year, he was overjoyed to discover that Padmé and Clovis had split up over the summer.

"He was ranting all last night about it when the rest of us were trying to sleep," Obi-Wan, who shared a dormitory with Clovis, said in a long-suffering tone.

"Did he say why they split up?" Anakin asked. "Or which one did the dumping?"

"Padmé dumped him, that was very clear by how angry he was," Obi-Wan said, and Anakin sighed in relief. Thrilled as _he_ was about the breakup, he didn't want Padmé to be sad about it, and that was much less likely if she'd been the one to end things. Not to mention it was a sign that she no longer had any feelings for Clovis, regardless if Clovis still did.

"As for why," Obi-Wan continued, "I never really heard a specific reason from him, just that she said something about she didn't think they were right for each other and it wasn't him, it was her. I got the impression that she was quite nice about it, actually, even though he was using all sorts of…uncomplimentary words to describe her which I would rather not repeat."

Anakin resisted the urge to swivel around to glare at Clovis at the Ravenclaw table. To think that anyone could talk about perfect, kind, angelic Padmé that way. Although she'd broken his heart by dating someone else and things had been awkward since his impromptu confession of feelings which she did not reciprocate, Anakin couldn't even fathom ever being upset with her. On the contrary, his crush was as strong as ever even though he _knew_ it was hopeless. He almost wished she'd be cruel to him about it so that he could get over her, but no, she was still as nice as she'd always been.

That evening, Anakin was on his way to the Great Hall for dinner when he turned a corner and nearly bumped into Padmé. "Oh! Sorry, I didn't see you there," she said, looking a little flustered (though not nearly as flustered as Anakin felt).

"That's all right," Anakin said. He gave her a hesitant smile, hoping the summer apart would've reduced some of the awkwardness between them. "How was your summer?"

"Good," she said, smiling back so warmly that his anxiety lessened significantly. "Stressful waiting for my O.W.L. results, though."

Anakin laughed. "I hear you. How did you do?"

"I was happy with my marks," Padmé said modestly, which he took to mean she'd probably gotten straight O's. She was the top of the year, just barely ahead of Obi-Wan. "You?"

"Not as bad as I'd expected," Anakin said; he'd been surprised to see that he'd actually done fairly well. "What classes are you taking this year?"

"Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Muggle Studies, History of Magic, and Arithmancy."

Anakin goggled at her. "Wow. You're going to be busy," he said. "I'm only taking Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Potions." He was a little disappointed she was no longer taking Herbology, as that was a class they'd always had together, but then he remembered that because N.E.W.T. level classes were so much smaller, sixth years from all houses had them together, so Padmé would be in most of his classes anyway.

"That's still a heavy courseload," Padmé insisted. "What are you thinking of doing after Hogwarts? I want to work in the Ministry, maybe even be Minister for Magic someday, that's why I'm taking so many classes this year, though I'm sure I'll regret it within a month."

She laughed as she said it, and Anakin chuckled along with her. "You'd be an incredible Minister for Magic," he said, his stomach doing a backflip when she beamed at him. "I'm not sure what I want to do. Maybe professional Quidditch."

"You _are_ a fantastic Quidditch player," Padmé said, nodding.

"Thanks," Anakin said, blushing. "But…I was also kind of thinking of maybe being an Auror."

Becoming a Dark wizard catcher was a new idea of his that he'd never dared voice aloud until that moment. The training was extremely intense and selective, and Anakin knew he'd never get the grades he needed to even apply. Still, there was something appealing about the thought of spending his life protecting not only the Wizarding World, but the Muggle community as well from the threat of Dark wizards. Dark wizards who thought pureblooded wizards were naturally superior and that Muggles and Muggle-borns like him ought to be wiped out entirely.

Padmé broke out into another smile. "I think you would make a wonderful Auror," she said, sounding completely sincere. "You've always been top of our year in Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Anakin smiled back, stomach squirming again at her praise. "Not as good as you," he said.

"No, you're better than me at Defense Against the Dark Arts, I know you are," she said stubbornly. "What did you get on your O.W.L.?"

Anakin blushed yet again. "An O," he admitted.

"See? That was one of the hardest O.W.L.s, hardly anyone I've spoken to managed an O."

Before Anakin could point out that she certainly had also received an O and he was therefore not better than her, he saw Padmé's smile fade and he turned around to see Rush Clovis approaching, glowering at both of them. "You lot are looking awfully cozy," he remarked.

 _So what if we are? You're not together anymore, remember?_ Anakin wanted to say, though for once in his life he was wise enough to bite his tongue.

"Anakin and I were just catching up," Padmé said calmly. "He was telling me he's thinking of being an Auror after Hogwarts."

Clovis scoffed. "No thank you. I'd rather not have a worthless Mudblood like him be all that stands between me and dangerous Dark wizards."

Anakin's heart pounded and he instinctively reached into his pocket to grip his wand, feeling all the blood rush to his face. "What did you say?" Padmé demanded, looking shocked.

"You heard me," Clovis said with a smirk. "I said that Skywalker is an idiot Mudblood who's only managed to not flunk out of school because Sprout wants him to help Hufflepuff win the Quidditch Cup for the first time in about a hundred years. Though he hasn't been able to do even that, has he?"

Before Anakin even had time to pull his wand out of his pocket, Padmé was saying, _"Oppugno!"_

All the textbooks flew out of her bag and threw themselves violently at Clovis, who yelped and ducked, though to Anakin's immense satisfaction the weighty History of Magic tome smacked him right on the head. "The hell is wrong with you?" Clovis shouted.

"How dare you talk to him like that!" Padmé said furiously. "Anakin is a thousand times the wizard you are!"

Clovis sneered at her. "Typical. Even when we were dating I could tell you wanted to get in his pants, God knows why. Whore."

Anakin, temporarily forgetting he was a wizard with five years of jinxes and hexes under his belt, did it the old-fashioned way and punched him in the face.

"Mr. Skywalker!"

All three of them whirled around to see Professor McGonagall rushing towards them, looking irate. _"What_ is going on here?" she said. "Mr. Skywalker, fighting on school grounds is strictly forbidden. You're a sixth year, you should know better. Twenty points from Hufflepuff, and you will come to my office tomorrow night for detention."

"But Professor—" Anakin began indignantly.

He was interrupted by Clovis pointing at Padmé and saying, "She attacked me too, Professor."

McGonagall rounded on Padmé. "Is this true?"

"I—well, yes," Padmé said. "But—"

"Miss Naberrie, I'm surprised at you, you're a prefect and you've always been such a model student," said McGonagall, her tone bitingly disappointed. "Twenty points from Gryffindor and detention tomorrow night."

"Professor, I only jinxed him because he called Anakin a—a—" Padmé swallowed, as if she couldn't even force herself to say the word.

"A Mudblood," Anakin supplied softly, avoiding everyone's eyes and feeling an odd sense of shame. He knew Clovis was the only one who had anything to be ashamed of, but still, to be called a Mudblood, as if his very blood was dirty because his mother wasn't a wizard…it gave him a sick feeling in his stomach.

McGonagall's eyes widened, and she turned again towards Clovis with a much sterner expression. "Mr. Clovis?"

"I did no such thing," Clovis protested weakly.

Fortunately, she saw right through him. "Mr. Clovis, such language is offensive and absolutely intolerable," McGonagall said, looking genuinely furious now. "Thirty points from Ravenclaw and a week of detention for you, and you will apologize to Mr. Skywalker immediately."

Clovis scowled at Anakin and muttered, "Sorry."

"Mr. Skywalker and Miss Naberrie, you may go. I will see you tomorrow evening at eight o'clock," she said. "Mr. Clovis, you are coming with me to see the Headmaster. Now."

Anakin felt too wretched to be any more than slightly smug as McGonagall all but dragged Clovis off with her to the Headmaster's office. "I'm sorry," he said to Padmé once they were gone.

"You have nothing to apologize for," she said firmly.

"I got you in trouble."

"It wasn't your fault. That—that disgusting _bastard_ was being horrible to you."

Anakin shrugged and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Well…thanks," he said. "For standing up for me."

"Same to you," Padmé said with a small smile. "I was on the way to dinner when I ran in to you…"

"So was I," Anakin said, having almost forgotten his original destination.

"Do you want to sit together?" she asked, looking almost shy.

Anakin smiled too, his heart lifting and his stomach starting to unknot itself. "That would be nice."

They were mostly quiet as they walked, until Anakin ventured, "What did you ever see in him?"

Padmé shook her head. "I can hardly remember," she said dryly. "I suppose he was good at hiding the fact that he's scum."

Anakin gave a huff of laughter. "I suppose so."

It was hardly Anakin's first detention (though Padmé confessed it was hers), but he found it to be the most pleasant detention he'd ever spent. Possibly because Padmé was also there. And McGonagall seemed to secretly be on their side even though she had to punish them to uphold school rules, because she gave them each a biscuit and only made them stay for an hour doing lines rather than a more onerous task.

There was nothing like a shared detention to bring people together, and the next morning Padmé came into Potions and made a beeline for Anakin. "Anyone sitting here?" she asked, indicating the seat next to him.

He shook his head. "All yours."

"Today we will be brewing Amortentia, the most powerful love potion in the world," Professor Slughorn announced a minute later. Anakin turned pink and determinedly didn't look at Padmé. "Though of course it only creates infatuation, as it's impossible to manufacture real love. This potion is very tricky, so I don't expect you to brew it perfectly on your first try. Give it your best shot, and whoever has the best potion at the end of class will be given extra points."

They got to work. The potion was so fiddly and stressful that Anakin and Padmé hardly ended up exchanging a word, too busy focusing on their cauldrons for the entire period. Though Anakin kept sneaking glances over at her, thinking how beautiful she looked with her sleeves rolled up and her brow furrowed in concentration and her hair getting frizzy from the fumes rising out of her cauldron, muttering to herself as she stirred the potion and consulted her textbook.

To the surprise of approximately no one, Padmé's potion was by far the best in the class and she was awarded the extra points. "This is excellent work, Miss Naberrie," Slughorn was saying, looking thrilled. "Gather round, everyone, and take a look. Or more importantly, take a whiff. Amortentia smells different to each person depending on what attracts them, and Miss Naberrie has achieved that with her potion. Let's see…Mr. Skywalker, what do you smell?"

Anakin obligingly leaned in and inhaled deeply, enjoying all the pleasant scents emanating from Padmé's cauldron. "My mum's biscuits, and the Quidditch pitch, and…" He sniffed harder. "Something lemony." The lemony scent was achingly familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.

After asking a few other people to share what they smelled in the potion, Slughorn dismissed them all. Anakin and Padmé cleaned up their workstations and walked out of class together. "Great job on the potion," Anakin said. "Mine came out looking like sludge."

Padmé chuckled. "Thank you. And yours wasn't that bad."

"What did you smell in yours?" Anakin said curiously, unable to help himself.

She flushed, unless her face was still red from the heat of the cauldron. "Butterbeer and new parchment," she said.

"That's it?"

"Mm-hmm," she said, much too quickly. And she was definitely turning red. That was odd.

They parted ways a moment later, and as Padmé turned around to head down a different corridor, Anakin caught a whiff of her shampoo and realized that that was the lemony scent he'd smelled in the love potion.

* * *

Before Anakin knew it, sixth year became seventh year and then suddenly the end of the year was approaching. That meant that N.E.W.T.s were coming up, and he had to pass all five of his in order to be accepted into Auror training. But exams were in June, and right now it was May which meant only one thing: Anakin's final Quidditch match at Hogwarts.

Hufflepuff still had yet to win the Quidditch Cup, but they were in the finals versus Gryffindor. Anakin had been the Hufflepuff captain for the past two years and he'd been scheduling extra practices like crazy in the weeks leading up to the match, determined that they would win since it was his last chance to do so.

"Don't you think you've been working the team a little hard?" asked Obi-Wan when Anakin trudged into the library one night splattered with mud after a rainy and particularly grueling practice.

Anakin flopped into the chair across from him and dumped his books out of his bag and onto the table. Between Quidditch, homework, and exam prep, he felt like he hardly had any time to breathe these days. "It's my last year," he said. "We _have_ to win."

Obi-Wan was resolutely neutral in the upcoming match, seeing as Anakin and Ahsoka, his two best friends, were on opposing teams. "Surely N.E.W.T.s are more important for your future than this Quidditch match," he said carefully. "Shouldn't you be focusing more of your energy there?"

"You don't understand," Anakin said. "I know for you Quidditch is just a fun hobby, but for me…it's my _life._ It's always been the one place at Hogwarts where I felt like I _truly_ belonged, like I'm not just an impostor who got a Hogwarts letter by mistake. I've never been that great academically, and I've never had that many friends here, but when I'm out on the Quidditch pitch it feels like I'm not just—just a useless Muggle-born."

"You're not useless," Obi-Wan said, quiet but firm. "Yes, you and Ahsoka and I have always been a little trio, but there are plenty of other people at Hogwarts who like spending time with you, Anakin. And you do well in your classes even if you're not the number one student in our year, and you're going to pass all your N.E.W.T.s and become a great Auror. I know you will."

Anakin cleared his throat and looked down at his half-completed essay, embarrassed by his outburst. "Thanks," he said. "But I'd still like to win the Quidditch Cup just once."

The day of the match dawned warm and clear. Good visibility, Anakin thought distractedly as he hurried down to breakfast, which was an advantage for them but also an advantage for the other team.

"Listen up, everyone," he said in the locker room, beckoning his team to gather round for a pep talk. "This is it. We've been working our arses off all year for this moment, and I know we're more than ready. And as you know, this is an especially important match for me because it's the last time I'll get to play at Hogwarts with you. I couldn't be more proud of all of you, and I'll still love you even if we lose, but I'll be just a little prouder if we win, all right?"

This was met with a mix of laughter and sniffles, and they all went in for a group hug before marching out onto the pitch. The Hufflepuff and Gryffindor teams met in the middle, and Anakin and Padmé, the respective captains, approached each other to shake hands. "Good luck," Anakin said. "You'll need it."

She scoffed. _"You're_ the one who needs luck."

Madam Hooch blew the whistle, and the match began. Anakin kicked off the ground and flew high up into the air as the rest of the players sprang into action below him, the Quaffle moving from Chaser to Chaser while the Beaters tried their best to keep the Bludgers away from their own teammates and knock them towards the opposing team.

Padmé was on the other end of the pitch scanning the air likewise, and Anakin kept one eye on her and the other peeled for the Snitch. But unlike that first match in their fifth year, he was watching her because it genuinely was a strategy, not because he was in love with her. Well, of course he was still in love with her, but he knew how to handle it now.

The match was a real nail-biter. Hufflepuff and Gryffindor remained practically tied the entire time; it seemed like once one team scored a goal, the other team would score right afterwards and even things out again. Anakin was anxious, knowing that the sooner he could locate and catch the Snitch, the better. There wasn't even the tiniest thought in his head of letting Padmé win. He would win this match or die trying.

And then, finally, Anakin saw a flash of gold out of the corner of his eye. He swiveled around and dove towards it as fast as his broom could possibly go, heart in his throat. He heard the crowd starting to scream even louder, guessing from his sudden action that he'd spotted the Snitch.

A second later he saw a red blur, and there was Padmé right beside him. Anakin doubled down and silently begged his broom to go faster. They were neck and neck, both arms outstretched towards the Snitch just out of their grasp, the grass on the pitch getting closer and closer as they dove in a nearly completely vertical line.

But then, suddenly, Padmé fell back slightly. Anakin didn't even spare it a second thought because he was reaching out and grabbing the Snitch out of the air, and the crowd was roaring and the announcer yelling that Hufflepuff had won the House Cup.

He made the messiest landing of his life and was immediately mobbed by his teammates, all of them yelling and crying and cheering. They lifted him up onto their shoulders and Anakin triumphantly held up his fist closed around the Snitch. _"Hufflepuff! Hufflepuff! Hufflepuff!"_

It was all a blur and probably the best moment of Anakin's life. Beaming with pride, Professor Sprout, Hufflepuff's Head of House, arrived on the pitch to join Madam Hooch in presenting them with the Quidditch Cup. Anakin accepted it on behalf of his team, lifting it high in the air while everyone yelled themselves hoarse.

Then they shook hands with the Gryffindor team. Most of them looked upset, but Ahsoka acknowledged that it was high time Anakin got to win the House Cup since Gryffindor had won the past three years in a row, and Padmé just smiled and congratulated him.

In the back of his mind Anakin recalled the way she had seemed to abruptly slow down, allowing him to catch the Snitch, and he couldn't help but wonder…

When the stands had mostly emptied out and his team had finally decided to leave the celebration on the pitch in favor of the festivities in the Hufflepuff Common Room, Anakin spotted Padmé heading up to the castle alone and excused himself, telling his teammates he'd meet them there in a minute.

"Padmé!" he called once he was closer.

She stopped and turned to look at him. "Hi," she said when he arrived in front of her.

"You let me win," Anakin said. He'd realized that she'd done exactly the same move he'd pulled during that match in their fifth year.

"Of course I didn't," Padmé said. "You won fair and square."

"Don't try that on me, I let you win that other time and I know what it looks like," he said impatiently. "You let me win. We didn't deserve the House Cup, you should've won it."

"You absolutely deserve it, you've been working harder than any other team at this school," she said. "And you've never won during our time at Hogwarts, Gryffindor's won three times. We didn't need the victory today."

"You let us win because you thought we needed it?" Anakin repeated, his pride wounded. "Why would you do that?"

Padmé gave him a half smile. "Because I really like you and wanted to ask you to Hogsmeade next weekend."

For a moment Anakin could only stare at her, thinking he must be hallucinating. "You're making fun of me," he said at last.

"Maybe a little. But I do mean it," she said, her eyes flicking down nervously before coming up to meet his. "Anakin, I really, really like you, and I only wish it hadn't taken me so long to realize it. I—I overheard you telling Obi-Wan in the library that you needed to win the Cup this year because playing Quidditch is the one place at Hogwarts where you've felt like you belonged, and I just—I needed you to have this. I've never cared much about Quidditch beyond it being a good way to release tension after a day of studying, but it means so much to you. I wanted you to be happy. Because I like you."

"You shouldn't have done it," Anakin said after a minute, his heart still pounding. "I wanted to win properly. Now the Cup means nothing."

"Says who? I wasn't beating you to the Snitch, we were exactly tied," Padmé pointed out. "I'm sure you would've ended up getting there first anyway, you're faster than me and a better player and your broom's better too."

"But—"

"Honestly, Ani, I slowed down a tiny bit for half a second, you won fair and square," she said. "Now go up to your common room and celebrate a well-earned victory. I'll see you later."

"Wait," Anakin said as she turned to go. "You…you really like me? Romantically?"

She blushed and ducked her head. "Yes," she said. "But I understand if you don't feel the same way, I know it's been two years since you said—"

She was cut off as Anakin cupped her face in his hands and kissed her deeply, trying to pour all the years he'd spent waiting for her into the kiss. When they finally drew apart for air, both were flushed and breathless. "Was that all right?" Anakin asked a little nervously. "Sorry, it's just, um, that was my first kiss and I don't really know what I'm doing—"

Padmé gave a gentle laugh. "It was much better than all right," she assured him. "It was perfect."

"Oh, thank God," Anakin muttered, his smile returning. "So, um, yeah. I like you too."

Padmé's hair was messy and windswept and she was sweaty and covered in mud, but when she smiled at him then he thought she had never looked more beautiful. "So is that a yes to Hogsmeade next weekend?" she asked.

"You don't even have to ask," Anakin said, leaning down to kiss her again,

The entirety of Hogwarts would've been baffled to see the rival captains walking into the Great Hall hand-in-hand and beaming the morning after a fierce Quidditch match if they hadn't spent ages waiting for Anakin and Padmé to finally realize they had feelings for each other.

* * *

 **Alas, this is my last fic for Anidala Week and I don't have much else in the works right now, so it'll probably be a while before you next see me! But I've always got ideas kicking around and it's almost summer vacation for me which means lots more free time, so I'm sure I'll come up with something new soon enough :) thanks for reading!**


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